Out With The Old, In With The New: Part II

 Along with changing our body care products and what not into healthy homemade and all natural, we also thought: "we cant just change the one thing without the other". Why worry about what's going on me if I'm not going to worry about what is going in my body also? 

 I did a little research and came to the conclusion that my body is super unhealthy. There is a lot of junk I have consumed and it is time to start eating healthy. We decided to go with a gluten free dairy free lifestyle. We still eat meat and eggs for the sake of our sanity.  I won't go into a nutrition lesson about gluten or dairy today but I will start off with saying: just because its gluten and dairy free doesn't mean it can't be yummy. 

Last night we were all craving a little sweetness and we chose brownies. I pulled the recipe from king Arthur's all purpose gluten free flour brownies recipe. I changed the flour to what I had which was white rice flour instead of a blend or brown rice. I would try to use brown rice flour to make this recipe to add extra health benefits to it but the white turned out delicious. I also used coconut oil instead of butter. 

 

Gluten Free Brownies

ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar. ( try to find an organic sugar. I had white sugar on hand so I used that)

1/2 cup coconut oil 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp. homemade vanilla extract

3/4 cup (2 1/2 ounces) Dutch-process cocoa 

3 large eggs

3/4 cup bobs red mill stoneground white rice flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chocolate chips, optional

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8" square pan or 9" round pan; either should be at least 2" deep.

2) Place the sugar, oil, and salt in a microwave-safe bowl or saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring with a heatproof spatula until the butter melts and the mixture lightens in color. This step helps melt the sugar, which will give the brownies a shiny crust.

3) If you've heated the sugar and butter in a saucepan, transfer the mixture to a bowl; otherwise, just leave the hot ingredients right in their microwave-safe bowl. Blend in the vanilla and cocoa, then add the eggs and mix until shiny.

4) Blend in the flour or flour blend and the baking powder. Stir in the chips and/or nuts, if you're using them.

5) Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it to the edges.

6) Bake the brownies for 33 to 38 minutes, until the top is set; and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or nearly so, with perhaps a few wet crumbs, or a tiny touch of chocolate at the tip of the tester. ( mine only took about 27 minutes or so. Be careful not to burn. They will become overly gritty and rice flour has a gritty enough texture of its own)

7) Remove from the oven and cool for about 15 minutes before cutting. Once the brownies are cool, cover tightly with plastic.

Yield: 16 brownies.